Global Courant
A Ukrainian-born American woman who was accused by her former adoptive family of “disguising” as a child despite reportedly being an adult was reportedly spotted with her new pastor father selling fireworks in an Indiana parking lot.
Natalia Grace was featured in the recent Investigation Discovery documentary “The Curious Case Of Natalia Grace” where her former adoptive family, the Barnetts, accused her of emotionally and physically abusing them while pretending to be a 6-year-old girl although she was reportedly 20. Natalia has a rare form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita.
Natalia was spotted last week with her new adoptive father and pastor, Antwon Mans, selling fireworks in a tent in the parking lot outside a Walmart in Greencastle, Indiana, the Sun exclusively reported. She was seen using a walker to help her get around, wearing a T-shirt with “a religious message,” according to The Sun.
Natalia, now supposedly 19, has denied the allegations made against her by the Barnetts and will be featured in a follow-up ID documentary later this year called “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks.”
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File photo of Natalia Barnett, who is accused of pretending to be a young girl at the time of her adoption, but was an adult. (Research Discovery)
“It’s very frustrating to hear everything that is being said from Kristine and Michael, because I already don’t know who I am, and I want to know who I am, what happened to me,” Natalia said in a trailer of the upcoming documentary.
“But I hear all these things that never really happened from Kristine and Michael.”
Michael Barnett and his then-wife, Kristine Barnett, adopted someone they believed to be a 6-year-old girl named Natalia in April 2010. Only about six months later, the parents began to witness violent behavior and doubt whether Natalia was really a child or an adult woman who was defrauding the family.
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The alleged behavior included hoarding knives in her room, urinating on her adopted siblings and even allegedly trying to kill her adoptive mother with Pledge cleaning solution, according to Michael Barnett.
Michael and Kristine Barnett, who adopted a young girl from Ukraine but soon questioned her real age after a series of alleged violent outbursts. (Research Discovery)
In 2012, the Barnetts petitioned the court to legally change Natalia’s year of birth from 2003 to 1989, which was granted and her age changed from 8 to 22. The family then moved to Canada with their biological children, where their eldest son was born. start college.
The alleged girl’s parents ran into trouble in 2013 when Natalia was discovered living alone in an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana, leading to an investigation and their arrests. In 2019, the couple, who have since divorced, were accused of neglecting a dependent.
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Michael Barnett was finally found not guilty by a jury in 2022, and Kristine Barnett had all her charges dismissed in March of this year. Both parents had previously claimed the allegations were bogus, saying Natalia was an adult and not a neglected child.
Walmart location in Greencastle, Indiana. (Google Maps)
After the documentary, Natalia’s new adoptive family set up a GoFundMe page for the woman to raise money so she could visit Israel.
“Many of you have seen or at least heard of ‘The Curious Case of Natalia Grace’ series by now.” You’ve seen home videos of a frightened young Natalia taken away by The Barnetts and heard how she was left to fend for herself at age 8,” said the GoFundMe page, started by Natalia’s adoptive mother Cynthia Mans.
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“We are The Mans and Natalia Grace is our daughter. We believe God has placed her in our lives and she is a wonderful daughter and a loving sister,” the page continued, explaining that they started the page to raise money for a wheelchair accessible van for the planned visit to Jerusalem.
